Every once in a while, in the midst of a heated campaign, we need to be reminded that we have a president already who is doing his best to ruin the country. As we wind the clock down on the Obama years, there will be many reviews of what has occurred during his two terms. May I begin that review today?

Let’s start with the economy, which was rather broken when he took office. He immediately rushed into that arena and made matters much worse.

How does a nation go from $9 trillion in debt to about $20 trillion in seven years? Most would have thought that impossible, but Obama has achieved it.

Then there was his signature piece of legislation: Obamacare. As state exchanges collapse and major insurers start a stampede for the door (e.g., United Healthcare), I think it’s about time to make a judgment on the efficacy of that radical makeover of the healthcare system:

That probably illustrates its status as well as anything I’ve seen lately.

We’ve also become rather confused morally and culturally in the Obama years, from same-sex marriage to acceptance of transgenderism. Obama himself has been the chief cheerleader toward his image of a Brave New World.

Hey, we’re now free to “self-identify” as anything we choose to be. Perhaps we can extend that philosophy to the rest of creation also:

If you think that’s ridiculous, just take a moment and ponder how ridiculous it would have seemed if, seven years ago, we had been told that we would now have people boycotting North Carolina because the state took a stand on men and women using their own separate bathrooms. Would you have believed it?

With the total destruction of our societal norms and the basic Biblical worldview that used to inform it, we can add the rise of ISIS (due to a rapid and disastrous pullout in Iraq), the marginalization of Israel, and Obama’s cozying up to to communist dictators (just to mention a few of the international messes he has created). I can understand why he might want to divert our attention elsewhere:

Nothing can be more important than changing the face on the twenty-dollar bill, right? For the record, I don’t mind Andrew Jackson being removed; he’s not on my list of favorite presidents. And while I might have other worthy suggestions for his replacement other than Harriet Tubman, I have no problem with a brave Republican woman who helped undermine the slave system being recognized instead.

Some random thoughts today about the recent highlights of the Obama administration.

The Iran deal looks like it’s going through. This is the latest in a long line of great deals brokered by this president:

Our president’s dubious accomplishments have spanned both the foreign and domestic realms, as the above cartoon shows. The economy has been moribund for his entire tenure in office, with a falling unemployment rate masking the fact that the labor force participation is at its lowest ebb in decades. More Americans than ever are on food stamps, etc. While a president’s policies need to have time to work, one can be excused for wondering why 6+ years hasn’t caused a turnaround.

Then there’s this: fifty intelligence analysts have officially complained that their intelligence briefings have been altered by someone somewhere in the administration. While they have been brutally honest in detailing the rise of ISIS and other threats, the White House has been downplaying those threats all along. Again, one might be excused for wondering how that could happen without the approval of the man at the top:

Then there’s the other side of Washington dysfunction:

If only things would change in Congress, there might be more confidence in the federal government. Even if Obama resists Republican efforts to reverse course, the public would be better informed as to the true nature of the problems we face.

President Obama made some astounding statements in a speech yesterday, claiming that he has rescued the economy and that the United States is now the most respected nation in the world because of his foreign policy.

Well, that kind of covers the whole ground, doesn’t it?

It’s also ludicrous.

Yes, the stock market is booming, but keen analysts worry it’s another one of those artificial bubbles. When they break, things go sour quickly. And the GDP this last quarter actually contracted, meaning negative growth. Well, that had to be the weather that caused it. The Soviet Union used that excuse for seventy years.

Yes, the unemployment rate is now at its lowest point in the Obama years, but that doesn’t take into account the unprecedented number of people who have dropped out of the workforce (which naturally lowers the percentage of unemployed) because they can’t find the jobs they want. No worry, the government has taken measures to ensure they will be taken care of.

Obamacare is an ongoing disaster, hopefully to be put to rest by the Supreme Court very soon.

Then there’s that little matter of doubling the national debt in a mere six years, an achievement no other president has ever been able to accomplish. The fact that we have any economic growth at all is due to entrepreneurs marching forward in spite of this administration’s attempts to drown us in red ink.

We’re no longer involved in wars? Fantasyland again. One can pull out troops and declare a war is over, but that doesn’t stop the other side from continuing the war. Iraq is ready to crumble; Afghanistan is heading the same direction; the entire Middle East is ablaze while our president does virtually nothing.

What is he bequeathing to his successor?

By all rational standards of measure—which is not how Obama measures things—we are in far worse shape on his watch than we have ever been, both in domestic policy and foreign affairs. His stature in the world is not what it was when he began, when the whole world seemed awash in his “hope and change” rhetoric.

Another indicator that things are not as he believes is the rush on the Republican side to replace him. Republicans know most of the country now sees through his spin.

The choice to be made by Republicans for their presidential nominee is one of the most crucial in my lifetime. May wisdom prevail.

Let’s make today “Catch Up Day” in Obamaworld and Clintonworld. In case you’re not sure what those are, those are alternate realities, outside the realm of what the rest of us experience.

If you watch the news, you know that the reporters are almost breathless over the drop in the unemployment rate. Why, it’s only 5.4% now, so Obama’s policies must be working. What they ignore, of course, is the rising number of people no longer in the workforce; we’re at the lowest percentage in decades. This is hardly a robust economy, but they do their best to make it seem as if it is:

After all, we’re only in year six of Obamaworld. We have to give his policies time to work, right?

He’s also done his best to heal the racial problems and promote equality:

Then there’s his rather unique approach to foreign policy, which he views a little differently than most:

If this disturbs you, there is another opportunity in 2016 to choose a new president. You can always opt for Hillary Clinton, who is very charitable:

Well, at least she’s family-centered.

And don’t worry about those tiny little scandals. I’m sure there’s nothing to them, and there won’t be any new ones to arise:

If such minor things bother you, all you have to do is ask her about them. She’s promised to be open and honest about everything.

That’s my Obamaworld and Clintonworld report for today. There will be more to come, you can be sure.

President Obama has come forward with his new budget—a $4 trillion-dollar whopper. Unreconstructed radical that he is, he has decided to double down on his approach. This budget is a natural outgrowth of the attitude he projected in the State of the Union Address—“in your face.” Does he really believe we can tax and spend our way into prosperity?

Or, at his core, does he not even care about a traditional definition of prosperity? Perhaps for him, prosperity is determined by how many more people look to the government for their sustenance. His ideological worldview posits that government should be the guiding hand for all of life. Debt is no problem, he thinks, because it is a positive indicator that the government is doing its job:

Republicans have already said this budget proposal is DOA. One can only hope they will flex their new muscles to counter what he is attempting:

Whenever this administration wants to offer some comedic relief, it sends out VP Joe Biden to give a speech. He fulfilled his task again earlier this week, speaking to an audience of Democrats about just how hard the last six years have been, basically blaming all the bad news—whether economic or in foreign policy—on George Bush. Doesn’t he realize that an admission that the last six years have been so bad might reflect on the people in charge for the last six years?

No, it’s not all that hard to explain why we’re in the state we’re in. It’s pretty obvious.

Do we really need President Obama to tell us what the state of the Union is? Well, he’s going to give us his views tonight in this annual ritual of meaninglessness. We already know what he’s going to say because the administration has leaked all pertinent information.

In no way is Obama going to be conciliatory or striving to work with Republicans. This is going to be an in-your-face declaration of progressive warfare. Top of his list will be the goal of collecting more taxes; in fact, he’s going to propose more than $320 billion extra over the next decade. Now who is that going to come from?

Why, the rich will pay it all, of course. He will position himself as the champion of the middle class, and if Republicans object, they will be targeted as the evil supporters of the privileged. Never mind that “rich” will be loosely defined and will include most of the unsuspecting middle class.

One of his top priorities for those new taxes is to fund his “free” community college proposal, supposedly providing everyone who wants it, two free years of community college. Buried in the details is the manner of funding: people who have been setting aside college funds in a tax-free account will, if his plan goes into effect, now have to pay taxes on the money they’ve been saving.

In other words, those who are paying for college themselves now have to fund those who are getting it “free.”

There’s something about that word “free” that people don’t really grasp:

Keep in mind also the person who is making this promise:

Some of the cartoonists have picked up on the smoke and mirrors of this promise:

The bottom line here is that President Obama is focused entirely on what the government can do for you. He’s far less interested in promoting policies that actually energize the economy and create jobs. But shouldn’t that be his priority?

His ideology, which is anti-free enterprise, has worked against us for six years. None of his empty promises tonight will help one bit. The only solace is that his proposals are dead on arrival in the Congress. He knows that, so the entire purpose of this evening’s diatribe will be for political gain; he hopes this will paint the Republicans as the enemy of the middle class and that their refusal to do his bidding will hurt them in 2016.

It’s despicable politics at its worst. Yet it will fool some of the people all of the time.

Obamacare just keeps clunking along. News alert: another unilateral change announced by President Obama. I’ve lost count on these. We now are told that those who have individual policies (that haven’t already been canceled) and those who have plans in small businesses can keep their plans for two more years before they will be forced to switch. The exact date for this extension runs into October 2016. Let’s see. What’s going on at that time? Could it be this is some kind of strategy to ensure a peaceful transition from Obama to Hillary Clinton? No, that can’t be. That would be entirely a political decision, and no one would be that blatant, right?

In the short term, the president has another tactic for drawing our attention away from the bloodletting that’s occurring with Obamacare—raise the minimum wage.

Democrats see this as a winning formula for this year’s congressional elections. If Republicans will fight the hike, they will be portrayed as heartless and cruel. Never mind the actual economics of a minimum wage increase:

Historically, that’s exactly what happens. Businesses, in order to follow the law, have to hire fewer workers.

Those who suffer the most are the very ones this is supposed to help. This will raise the pay of some, while making it more difficult for others—mostly young people trying to start out—to climb the ladder economically:

There’s no getting around the reality of the situation:

If this doesn’t phase you, check your status—you may be living in a fantasy called Obamaworld.